Paul Wallbank – Brilliant Communications

Category: computers

  • It’s hard to make a buck on the cloud

    It’s hard to make a buck on the cloud

    Microsoft released its quarterly financial results to general acclaim from the stock market which drove the shares seven percent higher after reporting slightly better than expected returns.

    The market was applauding the continued shift to cloud services with income rising five percent in the company’s Intelligent Cloud division, however the decline in the company’s more traditional strengths of software licenses and devices saw earnings fall by eleven percent over the corresponding period last year.

    More concerning for the company’s shareholders would be the profits that have fallen 23% which once again proves that cloud services are much less profitable than Microsoft’s traditional software business.

    To make matters worse margins on cloud services are falling with returns from the division declining despite sales being up five percent. It’s not hard to see the effects of Amazon Web Services’ ruthless driving down of cloud service prices.

    While Microsoft’s results are encouraging in that they show the company is continuing its evolution to a cloud services business, it’s clear the legacy products are still the key cash generators.

    As of December 31, Microsoft has a 102 billion dollars in the bank so there’s little risk the company will be going broke soon however the company has to find a way to make better profits from its new business models.

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  • Virtual reality and the Personal Computer’s last stand

    Virtual reality and the Personal Computer’s last stand

    Personal computer sales suffers a 10.3% fall in 2015, the sector’s greatest ever year on year decline reports IDC.

    What might reverse the PC’s decline? Dell hopes it’s virtual reality as the company offers discount bundles with the computer power to run the Oculus Rift headset.

    Dell’s move is based on the news that most computers in use today don’t have the power to run virtual reality headsets.

    The question though is how long that will last as the power of smartphones and smaller form factor computers increase exponentially and developers find ways to optimise code to deliver more performance from less powerful processors.

    Virtual reality may well open a range of new markets and products but it’s hard to see it saving the personal computer.

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  • ABC Nightlife – Australia’s startup goldrush and the overhyped world of wearables

    ABC Nightlife – Australia’s startup goldrush and the overhyped world of wearables

    For November’s Nightlife tech spot we’ll be asking if wearable technologies overhyped and looking at what is going on with Australia’s sudden discovery of startup businesses.

    Wearable technologies have been the next big thing. Two years ago Google Glass was all the news and earlier this year the Apple Watch was released to great fanfare.

    Now Google Glass has been wound back in the face of widespread indifference and Apple are discounting the new watch as market experts find that wearable technologies are just not interesting to customers.

    So are wearable technologies overhyped? We’ll be discussing where having a computer on your wrist or in your glasses may be useful and taking your questions on them.

    Australia’s startup goldrush

    There’s been a shift in the Australian business community since Malcolm Turnbull became Prime Minister and now tech startups have become the new black with a wave of corporate initiatives being launched to support fledgling companies hoping to be the next Facebook or at least Atlassian.

    So why now all the interest and can Australia be the next Silicon Valley?

    Some of the questions we’ll be answering include.

    • So where can we get a cheap Apple watch?
    • Have Apple done this sort of thing before?
    • What are the experts saying about wearable technologies?
    • Are there some industries they can be used in?
    • So why is Malcolm Turnbull so keen on startups?
    • What sort of things are governments doing to support the startup communities?
    • How many Australian tech industry successes have there been?
    • Can Australia be the next Silicon Valley?

    Join us

    Tune in on your local ABC radio station from 10pm Australian Eastern Summer time or listen online at www.abc.net.au/nightlife.

    We’d love to hear your views so join the conversation with your on-air questions, ideas or comments; phone in on 1300 800 222 within Australia or +61 2 8333 1000 from outside Australia.

    You can SMS Nightlife’s talkback on 19922702, or through twitter to@paulwallbank using the #abcnightlife hashtag or visit the Nightlife Facebook page.

     

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  • Smartwatches miss primetime

    Smartwatches miss primetime

    The US smartwatch market in not yet ready for prime time says Kantar Worldpanel finding most consumers are saying the devices are too expensive and don’t add enough value.

    Kantar’s findings are underscored by Apple’s giving discounts to buyers of its smartwatch, something the company is certainly known for.

    For all the hype, it appears the smartwatch may well have been the classic tech solution looking for a problem.

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  • Can PCs claw back their sales volumes?

    Can PCs claw back their sales volumes?

    PCs can do what? Is the question being asked in a new campaign being run by Intel, Microsoft, Lenovo and Dell.

    Judging from the reaction to the companies’ effort whatever PCs can do, it’s unlikely to help their at best stagnant market share.

     

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